My birthday!

   Its my birthday this month and I thought I might have a celebration after all. I had been thinking of a purple theme with red roses and gold flake and this reminded me of a shoot I saw on Save the Date for Cupcakes. It was titled Amore and was apparently loosely based off of a very lush banquet style period in Italian history with lots of over flowing platters of fruits. This shoot really captured the look I was thinking of as well so I've taken inspiration from there and thrown in some purple cakepops and some cupcakes--although mine will have purple frosting with roses in gold liners...

   I put it all in a gold frame because it looks pretty.

Mock up invite!

   I really like this invite mock up for the "Let Them Eat Cake" party, its more fitting to the edgier youthful vibe I was feeling from the B'day girl. The simplicity of the layout leaves it looking mature and classy, while the bright pink curtains hint at a saucy burlesque performance about to go down, and the cursive/calligraphy and fancy swirls add a touch of... well, fancy. Hope she likes it!

Beer tasting blokes birthday

   I came across a beer tasting party on Hostess with the Mostess and think it may be the most awesome party idea for a bloke. Set up your bar or living room as a pub by removing the lounge and replacing it with bar tables and some stools. Get a handful of different types of beers, or even ask people to bring a six pack of their favourite beers and set up specialised stations for the different types; beer, ale, lager and the like. Serve pub food in miniature or in shots to keep everything easy to eat with one hand-- because the beer will be in the other! I could go into it further, but you should probably go look at the Hostess site to read the descriptions in the words of the two ladies who really did through one of these awesome parties!

 {Beer tasting birthday party}

{A pub inspired Brew Bash}

Let Them Eat Cake! Burlesque style...

   OK, I found out that the 21st is going to be held at a burlesque style bar and lounge, so I made some changes and here is the new board for the "let them eat cake" party.

 

   I went to the website for the bar and got my hands on some of their images--that's the top image on the board, one of the private areas. It seemed that she wanted more pink then I had originally planned so I took inspiration from this photo and pulled hot, bold pinks and sumptuous purples straight from it. The rest of the bar is heavily detailed with gold filigree and edges so gold is now the shiny metallic of choice and their needs to be something else to break up the candy floss girlyness, so I threw in some black as a non-pink that doesn't draw away from the chosen colour. Still going with a handfull of cakes, but only one will be full scale, a couple will be small and the others will be faux cakes--icing over foam blocks. I really like the new edgier style, less froo froo, and more funky.

Incredible Hulk Dip

   I just had a brainwave that I have to share, and I know that this is more of a note than a blog post, but my big idea I want to share is still in the works. But first, Incredible Hulk dip!! It came to me when I was pondering the reasons why there aren't more green corn chips out on the market, and it probably has something to do with the fact that people have a thing against food being the wrong colour to that which they perceive is the norm. Anyway, the concept is green corn chips and beetroot dip. Green for his skin and purple for his shorts! Green and purple are the hulks colours because he is a not-so-good-guy good guy, and all true superheros are in solid primary colours. But that was my brainwave, Hulk dip, and I'll get back to putting together tomorrows blog post!

Seven Deadly Sins Cupcakes

   I made these cupcakes for the 2009 Halloween party I had, but I wanted them to be a: based around a sin, and b: based around an alcohol. There was a lot of experimenting and I have to admit the beer/sloth cuppies were not that good, but it was an experience and they looked really cute!

   The sins are as follows, with their alcoholic partner:

• Gluttony--Creme de Cocao
• Lust--Chambord
• Wrath--Grand Marnier
• Pride--?*
• Greed--Butterscotch Schnapps
• Envy--Tequila
• Sloth--Honey Beer

   It was a real laugh asking everybody who would listen to me, what flavour or alcohol they thought best represented a sin and also the looks on peoples faces when I told them I had every intention of making beer flavoured cuppies. In the end I went with the following.

   Gluttony had a chocolate brownie base, moist chocolate cake spiked with Creme de Cocao, filled with rich chocolate fudge, frosted with chocolate mouse style cream and topped with dark chocolate shavings.

   Lust was red velvet cake with a raspberry and chambord filling, frosted with red tinted butter cream and topped with a Chambord soaked raspberry.

   Wrath was an orange and chili cake filled with Grand Marnier cream, topped with burnt meringue frosting, and sprinkled with orange zest sugar.

   Greed was caramel mud cake drizzled with Butterscotch Schnapps, a caramel center, frosted with triple gooey caramel layers and butter cream frosting with large gold dragees.

   Envy was a margarita cake with zesty lime and Tequila cream filling, frosted with a lime flavoured green butter cream and rimmed with sugar.

   And lastly, Sloth was a Honey Beer butter cake with beer spiked butter cream frosting and sprinkled with grey tinted sugar pearls. This would probably have been better if it was the only one I had to make, and I could put all my effort into them. Maybe next time I'll do a reduction with the beer and make the cake beer-y and the frosting honey-y...

   As I mentioned, they didn't all work out, but they were fun to come up with and try to execute, but I will never make a that many cuppies again! A dozen at least of each flavour and then I also did regular and mini cuppies. When I put them all on the table for photographing, they looked like small armies about to go to war...

     *Unfortunately, while writing this I have come to realise that I have completely forgotten what pride was. Once I do remember, I will update this post asap.

Bacon anyone?

   I really want to do a bacon menu for a guy's birthday party, so I scoured the interwebs and came up with a pretty comprehensive cocktail nibbles menu.

Appetizers
Bacon and Garlic Dip
Bacon Party Bread Sticks
Bacon Popcorn
Bacon and Cheddar Stuffed Mushrooms
Bacon Deviled Spinach Eggs

Entrees
Bacon Chili
Cheese and Bacon Cornbread
Bacon and Tomato Potato Skin Cups
Bacon Bowl BLT
Bacon-Cauliflower and Broccoli Salad
Bacon-Spinach Salad with Warm Dressing

Desserts
Maple Bacon Cupcakes w/ Maple Frosting
Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies w/ Maple Cinnamon Glaze
Chocolate Bacon
Bacon Candy
Candied Bacon Fudge
 
   I think that by the end of frying all that bacon, you wouldn't even want to go to the party let alone eat any of it! But I still think it would be a cool idea...




P.S.
   Apparently this beer is perfect with bacon: Schlenkerla Smokebeer.